


Into the Woods (or how Bucky Barnes stole Steve Rogers a christmas tree)

by MargotKhan



Category: Captain America (Movies), Captain America - All Media Types, Marvel Cinematic Universe
Genre: Christmas, Fluff, Gift Fic, M/M, Pre-Captain America: The First Avenger, Pre-Serum Steve Rogers, Schmoop, christmas trees, dubiously illegal adventures, its christmas - Freeform, like there is hardly any angst here
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2014-12-25
Updated: 2014-12-25
Packaged: 2018-03-03 09:40:39
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,758
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/2846432
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/MargotKhan/pseuds/MargotKhan
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>The wheels of Bucky's dad’s rundown Chevy crunch and slide, just a little bit, on the ice outside his and Steve’s apartment. He takes the rickety stairs two at a time and burst through the door so fast it makes Steve jump, dropping his sketchpad on the floor. A few stray flurries of snow swirl in around Bucky's feet.<br/>“What the hell is wrong with you?” Steve asks, eyes wide. Bucky just grins and slings Steve’s jacket over his shoulders, dragging him out the door.</p>
            </blockquote>





	Into the Woods (or how Bucky Barnes stole Steve Rogers a christmas tree)

**Author's Note:**

  * For [CaptainKittah](https://archiveofourown.org/users/CaptainKittah/gifts).



> This is written as a gift fic for kittah1346 on tumblr. I had a blast writing something holiday themed for this secret santa gift, especially since I am both a massive sucker for pre-serum Steve and cutting down christmas trees. Hope you enjoy it!
> 
> un-beta'd so all mistakes I'm sure are there are mine.

 

            The wheels of Bucky's dad’s rundown Chevy crunch and slide, just a little bit, on the ice outside his and Steve’s apartment. He takes the rickety stairs two at a time and burst through the door so fast it makes Steve jump, dropping his sketchpad on the floor. A few stray flurries of snow swirl in around Bucky's feet.

            “What the hell is wrong with you?” Steve asks, eyes wide. Bucky just grins and slings Steve’s jacket over his shoulders, dragging him out the door. Steve trips a bit on the stairs and Bucky slides a hand around his waist to steady him as they reached the bottom step.

            “Bucky what are you—is that your dads car?” Bucky's grin turns into a full on smile as he pulls away from Steve’s side to open the door with a flourish. Steve eyes him with suspicion.

            “Where are we going?”

            Bucky rolls his eyes and motioned at the door again. “Would you just get in?”

            Steve concedes with a sign and slides into the tattered seat. The cars rusted around the wheels and smells like motor oil and peppermint. Bucky's dad had bartered it off a neighbor who was moving out of town three years ago. Steve picks at a hole in the seat while Bucky drives out of town and onto the interstate, heading north. They drive for half an hour before the buildings and houses are replaced with snow-topped trees.

            “Are you going to tell me where we’re going?”

            “It’s a surprise.” Bucky says, before making a sharp turn onto a dirt road. He pulls to a stop a few minutes later in a small clearing and jumps out, coming around to the passenger side to open Steve’s door. Steve hesitates for a moment before getting out, his weathered boots crunching on the fresh, untouched snow.

            He’d been out of the city a few times before. Bucky's family took a vacation every few years, spending a week cramped into a cousin’s cabin. Steve had inadvertently tagged along on each trip. Bucky's parents never took to questioning it, Steve’s presence apparently as normal to them as their own sons.

            The woods here were quieter then than the bustling Barnes family vacations. It was a bit unsettling until Bucky came back into Steve’s view, and axe draped over his shoulder and the day so far clicked into place.

            “Are we getting a Christmas tree?” Steve starts laughing despite himself as Bucky grabs him round the wrist and pulls him over into the woods at the edge of the clearing.

            “Wait don’t we have to pay someone, I thought we had to pay someone?”

Bucky wavers on his feet and bites his lip, an expression Steve knows all to well, and he frowns.

            “This isn’t a farm is it?” Steve asks, and Bucky tries to look guilty for about thirty seconds before cracking up at Steve’s overly serious face.

            “A tree from a farm cost three dollars! No ones gonna notice if we just take one.” Bucky pulls Steve further into the thicket of trees as he talks.

            “Bucky, it’s stealing!” Bucky's responding snort of laughter echoed across the snow.

            “No, its not. I don’t think anyone even owns this land; it’s just a spot of woods in the middle of nowhere. Now come help me find one that will fit in the living room.”

            They walk another thirty minutes and Steve decides not to argue with Bucky's logic. He’d said in passing last week that their apartment had no Christmas cheer except for a string of lights Bucky found in his parents attic strung around their doorway. He hadn’t meant anything by it, just a passing observation, but the fact that Bucky had heard him and decide to drag him along on this mad little outing made something inside Steve’s chest tighten and warm.

            It starts to snow as they walk, and before long the cold makes Steve’s nose run and his lungs ache just a bit. Bucky wraps an arm around his waist when he sniffs. Steve glances around out of habit, thought the chances of anyone else wandering around in the middle of the woods with them is slim. He tucks his icy fingers under the back of Bucky's jacket, pressing them against warm skin and making Bucky jump then laugh.

            “Why didn’t you bring gloves, you idiot?” He asks, but he pulls Steve in closer.

            “Well I might have if I’d known we’d be goin’ for a hike.” Bucky laughs again, warm and happy, and Steve glances up to catch his lips spread in an easy smile. He’s rarely this happy and it’s a sight to behold, the snow catching in his hair, made an even more vibrant white against the dark strands. His cheeks flushed pink, full lips just a bit chapped from the cold. Steve wishes for a minute he had his sketchbook. He didn’t even realize he’d been staring, perhaps a little lovelorn, until Bucky glances down.

            “What?” He asks lightly.

            Steve wants to reach up and kiss him, push the snow from his hair with his fingers, but this thing between them, this _more_ , is still new and shinning and a little bit uncertain. Steve’s not sure how much he’s allowed to touch outside the confines of their apartment with its dimmed lights and closed curtains. His wavering is cut short when Bucky looks over his shoulder and freezes, eyes going wide. Steve jerks his head around, fearful for a split second that they’ve been caught, but there’s no one there. Bucky pulls out of his grip and half runs to a small pine tree, pointing proudly.

            “This one.” He declares, and lifts the axe off his shoulder.

            The tree has a few branches towards the top that have snapped under the weight of the snow. It’s a bit crooked where it sits, leaning to the left to get closer to the sun where it streams through the branches of the older trees growing above it. Steve has to agree. Its perfect.

            He lets out a giggle he’d never admit to when Bucky misses the mark completely on the first swing, than the second. Bucky turns around with a glare and holds the axe out to Steve.

            “You wanna try?” He asks, and Steve tries to sober up, his small frame shaking a bit and a hand over his mouth. He shakes his head and Bucky swings the axe with a bit more force.

            The tree shakes under the blow, and with a few more hits it topples into the snow with a crack. Steve steps up to grab one end while Bucky gets the other, and they haul the tree back towards the car.

            The trip back through the woods is a bit more tiring than the one in, and Steve stops more than once to catch his breath and pester Bucky about being lost, but eventually they catch sight of the black Chevy through the trees. Bucky grabs a rope from the trunk and hauls the tree onto the cars roof, tying it down for the trip back to the city. Bucky leans next to Steve against the car when he’s done, a bit of sweat on his brow despite the cold.

            “I still can’t believe you just walked into the woods and cut down a tree.” Steve says conversationally, and Bucky's laugh echoes through the woods as he leaned his head back against the car, the tips of the trees branches catching in his hair. He looks over at Steve with eyes shining, content and untroubled, and Steve swallows down the uncertainty from early, leaning up on his tiptoes to kiss Bucky's lips gently. Bucky smiles against Steve’s mouth and presses in, his lips warm and insistent. Cold fingers find their way to Steve’s neck as Bucky tips his head up to deepen the kiss, his tongue tracing the outline of Steve’s lips as he steps in closer, crowding Steve against the cold metal of the car.

            The soft breath against his tongue and the slight catch of Bucky's lips when he smiles isn’t anything like how this usually goes. Bucky always kisses like a revelation, like it’s the first and last time and everything in between, desperate and needy. It strikes Steve that these are _happy_ kisses, pressed to his lips in the middle of their dubiously illegal outing with snow melting in his socks. Steve wraps his arms around Bucky's neck and pulls him in closer. Bucky's hands move down his neck to press his thumbs into the sharp jut of Steve’s hipbones under his coat, both the chill and the implications of the touch making him gasp. Steve presses in just a bit more, sliding his leg between Bucky's thighs and earning himself a slight bite to his bottom lip. Steve’s about to grab Bucky's ass, all uncertainty gone, and make him move faster, when a large snap from the direction of the woods sends them splitting apart. Another twig snaps as a figure comes into view through the trees.

            “What the hell are you kids doing?”

            “Shit.” Bucky breathes, and spins around to jerk the car door open, climbing in and fumbling with the keys while Steve slides on the snow in his haste to climb in the other side. They speed out of the wooded clearing and back down the road, the car jostling them from side to side. It’s a full minute before Steve remembers how to breathe.

            “Holy shit.” Bucky says again and Steve looks over at him, wide eyed and still panicked. Bucky's whole body is shaking, his voice strained as he tried to breath through his laughter. “Shit your face Stevie.” He lets out a peel of laughter and leans his head against the steering wheel while Steve glares at him.

            “Oh my God Bucky you’re gonna kill me someday.” He sighs, and glances back down the road behind them for the third time, a bit of his panic subsiding at the lack of blaring sirens.        

            “Relax, no one coming after us.” Bucky says, still smiling as he leans over and grabs one of Steve’s hands, bringing it to his lips and kissing the palm lovingly. “Beside, I could outrun them.” He steps on the gas, gunning the car to go as fast as it can, which considering its age isn’t that impressive. Steve laughs and leans back in his seat, settling in for the trip back to the city, Bucky's hand still wrapped around his the whole way there.

**Author's Note:**

> A little history because I am a massive history nerd. 
> 
> Bucky's dads car is a Chevrolet Six, which were common and most importantly reasonably priced. You can see a picture of it and a bit more info on this site:http://www.thepeoplehistory.com/30scars.html
> 
> Christmas trees actually have a very interesting history, which you can read about more if you're interested here: http://www.christmasarchives.com/trees.html
> 
> I was inspired to write this after seeing (and falling in love with) this vintage photo of a car decorated for the holidays: http://www.gettyimages.com/detail/news-photo/an-automobile-decorated-with-loppings-for-christmas-news-photo/106889922


End file.
